Updated on December 6, 2016 at 9:13 AMPosted on December 6, 2016 at 8:00 AM

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Taquarius Ford, 37, is on trial in U.S. District Court in Portland on charges of conspiring to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. (Taquarius Ford website)

Taquarius Ford introduced himself to young women in shopping malls, showered them with compliments and asked if they'd be interested in a modeling career.

He claimed he was a successful modeling executive from Hollywood and promised them future fame, paying for their flights to Los Angeles, where he wined and dined them and took them to red carpet events with celebrities.

But once in California, he pressured them to engage in prostitution, claiming they needed to start at the bottom as an escort to high-end businessmen, doctors and lawyers, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday during opening statements of Ford's trial on charges of conspiring to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking, obstruction of justice and tampering with a witness.

Ford, 37, forced six women to engage in commercial sex with customers between 2007 and 2013, including two alleged victims in Oregon and others from Idaho and Arizona, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad said. One girl was 15 when Ford met her on a Portland street. He flew her to Los Angeles once she turned 18, she said.

"Have you ever thought about modeling?'' Ford asked the women he lured into sex trafficking, according to Bolstad. "That was his hook.''

Ford's defense lawyer countered that the defendant ran an escort business and the women involved engaged in commercial sex acts voluntarily.

"This is not a case of human trafficking. This is not a case of forced sexual exploitation of women,'' defense lawyer Laurie Bender told the jury. "This is a pandering case - a prostitution case. ... The adults in this case are volunteers. They were not compelled or forced in anyway to do what they did.''

The trial, expected to last at least two weeks, follows nearly three years after Ford was arrested in Miami on a federal indictment on Feb. 20, 2014. His co-defendant, Konia Prinster, 28, has pleaded guilty to a sex trafficking conspiracy charge and is expected to be called by prosecutors to testify against Ford. Ford's trial had been postponed five times.

Ford relied heavily on Prinster, herself a full-time escort, to help recruit and lure young women to work for Ford, Bolstad said. Prinster would try to convince the women that working for Ford was safe and showed them the "piles and piles of money'' that they'd make.

Bolstad displayed for jurors a photo of Ford seated on the hood of a parked red car, holding a stash of cash in his right hand and making a "peace'' sign with his left hand. She also showed photos of Ford, dressed in a black tuxedo, posing with such celebrities as actress Marisa Tomei or singer Puff Daddy.

She said Ford placed advertisements online for the women, drove them to their "dates'' and then collected the money they made from their commercial sex acts. He forced several of them to have sex with him as well and used violence and blackmail to force them to continue working for him, the prosecutor said.

The investigation began after Port of Portland officers were called to The Hampton Inn near the Portland International Airport on Feb. 17, 2012, on a report of suspicious prostitution activity. The officers found Ford and Prinster in Room 209 and an 18-year-old coming out of another room, looking frightened and upset, Bolstad said.

Taquarius FordMCSO

Officers interviewed the 18-year-old woman, who said she was approached at a mall in Boise, Idaho, by Ford, who told her she was beautiful. She was flattered. He convinced her to fly to Los Angeles to start a modeling career. After she arrived on a flight Ford paid for, he bought her new shoes, dresses and other clothing. He eventually took her to the Sundance Festival in Utah and brought her to the Playboy Mansion for a Grammy night party, according to the prosecutor.

He encouraged her to pose topless to work as an escort. Soon, he plied her with alcohol and sexually assaulted her and used the photos he had taken as blackmail, threatening to send them to her family or friends if she didn't go along with his plan, Bolstad said.

Ford was arrested in 2012 for attempting to compel prostitution and quickly bailed out of jail. Police seized his laptop and phone and pursued a broader investigation, calling in the FBI to assist. On one of his devices, agents found a manuscript Ford wrote, titled, "Denial of a Pimp,'' and later re-titled "The Best Worst Feeling,'' Bolstad said.

The first chapter is called: "The Condom is Money,'' according to court documents.

The FBI found other alleged victims, including a 15-year-old Portland girl who he flew out to Los Angeles once she turned 18. He bought her new clothes and paid for a place for her to stay. He took photos of her topless and got her into his escort service. One night, after having sex with three different men, she felt "physically ill and had a breakdown,'' Bolstad said. Ford and Prinster then abandoned her in Los Angeles, the prosecutor said.

One of the women told federal agents that she had sex five to 10 times a day and made between $1,000 and $3,000 a day, turning over all of the cash to Ford. Several of the women had "Taquarius'' or "TQ" tattoos on their wrists or torso, the prosecutor said.

Ford's lawyer told jurors that there's no dispute that many of the women who who will be called as witnesses in the case engaged in commercial sex activities.

"Sex work occurs between consenting adults,'' Bender said.

She said Prinster, who went by the name "Russian Emma,'' was engaged in prostitution and hard-core pornography before she ever met Ford.

Bender said her client moved to Los Angeles in 2008 from the East Coast to get into the music industry as an entrepreneur, to find and promote talent. He started a business called Fraudmart, in which he sold machines that detect counterfeit currency, and later started an escort agency with Prinster. She said Ford and Prinster had a seven-year relationship.

"These two people mutually benefited from each others' talents, if you will,'' Bender told jurors. "Ms. Prinster enjoyed the sex work and she made money.''

She argued that some of the witnesses who will testify for the government knew that they were getting involved in an escort business and traveled back and forth from their hometowns to work for Ford. Prinster was arrested in 2015, about a year after Ford was taken into custody on the federal indictment in Florida. In November, she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and became a cooperating witness for the government.

Bender urged jurors to consider Prinster's motivation for testifying against Ford. According to court documents, Prinster is out of custody and will have all charges dropped against her if she complies with the conditions of her pretrial release and completes 100 hours of community service.